Scottish standout Nico Carrillo is on many ONE Championship fans' shortlist of Muay Thai talents to look out for, especially after he dominated the formidable Saemapetch Fairtex in July 2024. 'King of the North' kept his cool in the face of Saemapetch's strong start in round one, which was rewarded barely a minute into the next round with a knockdown of Saemapetch.
Carrillo capitalized on this moment to drop him twice more to enforce the three-knockdown rule and win via TKO.
Rewatch the entire fight below, which ONE shared on YouTube:
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This win led to the Deachkalek Muay Thai Academy product fighting for the ONE interim bantamweight Muay Thai world championship opposite Nabil Anane at ONE 170 this past January.
Despite being the overwhelming favorite to win, Carrillo suffered a surprising TKO defeat after getting knocked down thrice by the towering Thai-Algerian in round one.
Now, he aims to redeem himself by moving up to the featherweight Muay Thai division and defeating Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong at ONE Fight Night 30 on Friday, April 4, inside the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Nico Carrillo proud to be in peak condition for featherweight debut
Nico Carrillo has previously admitted to struggling to make the 145-pound bantamweight limit, which he is confident will no longer be a problem for him in the 155-pound division.
He recently told ONE in an interview:
"I believe it was the tip of the iceberg. Looking back, the time Nong-O hurt my leg, was it from him or just from the weight cut? I think about these things. I was getting away with it for a long, long time, but now I'm going in at full health, and I'm so excited to see how it unfolds."
ONE Fight Night 30 will be available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.